What is it about?
Traditional wheelchairs are pushed while walking behind the occupant. This position makes it hard to speak with each other and prevents eye contact, which is especially important for people who cannot communicate in spoken language. Implementing a push bar extending to the side allows a caregiver to push from the side, but this push location makes it hard to prevent the wheelchair from turning away from you. A modified front wheel was used to continuously exert a force in the opposite direction. This allows the caregiver to push the wheelchair in a straight trajectory, similar to how they would be able to push a wheelchair using traditional handles.
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Photo by Rollz International on Unsplash
Why is it important?
Allowing the occupant and caregiver to be positioned beside each other while walking establishes a more equal relationship. This modification makes this possible without requiring more pushing effort from the caregiver.
Perspectives
This solution was devised in 2019, and two authors have founded a commercial startup to make social wheelchair innovations available to the public.
Matto Leeuwis
Erasmus Universiteit Rotterdam
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: A slanted castor wheel enables pushing manual wheelchairs from the side to improve social interaction, PLoS ONE, September 2024, PLOS,
DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0307759.
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